Aircalipoor

You can play fast and semi-route and still maintain a bunch of regulary trained units, but going in-depth for this would require a lenghty answer and derail the topic. I try to keep in on topic on forging handaxes vs steel/silver weapons in the mid-end game: What is the point of retalation if it doesn't ORKO the enemy? The enemies are still alive and need to be killed in the player phase. So in the player phase they have to be killed and this is easier with forged steel/silver weapons than handaxes. 4x 12 Mt is less useful vs 2x16 Mt and especially 2x 21 Mt, if the enemies have high def. You can miss the 4HKO but succeed at 2HKO.

Could be, my bad in that case. The equiped weapon was mainly bad since it lowered Rhys already low AS.

In this case its Sorens issue to get Str, due to having a 5% growth. He is potentially stuck with 0+2 Str, so every tome except Wind and Elwind can wear him down. I'd unironically consider to give him an energy ring, since it acts as a speedwing. The other mages have higher bases and growth in str, so they are less likely to end up like this. The exception is Rhys, who has even more issues in that regard than Soren, due to having less spd, heavier tomes and one less point of strength (on his promotion).

Checking the stats, I admit its not common. Chaper 27 sages have 21-26 Mag, Bolting is 14 Mt against Rhys due to Weapon Triangle (Anima > Light) They also have 18-21 Spd and 7-8 Str, so even Bolting gives them 13-16 AS. A highly trained Rhys with just Light equiped should avoid being doubled and can probably shrug off two attacks, but if he has a heavier tome equiped (maybe I was using Purge or Shine that round) and may have lost a few HP because of a prior magic attack, its feasible. Or he is just 20/3 with 32 HP, 24 Res and 12 AS, then he can be ORKOed. Or two siege users attacked him and I thought he could shrug it of due to being high Res. But with unexpectly being doubled, even 10 damage adds up if its done four times.

My Rhys once got doubled in chapter 27 and died, despite his high res. Next time, I deequiped his own tome have more AS.

Pretty good, considering how many side-objectives this map has. It's the best designed map of FE9, considering how many paths you can take (west, northwest, north, northeast) and what you have to watch out for (recruiting Zihark, the Vigilantes, staves, the villages). Its one of these chapters that you have to low turn to play it right because stalling is to your detriment (thieves plundering villages, Jill, Black Knight). I always need to reset and experiment on this map to optimize it. Kieran can beat the southeast enemies with his base stats, which is neat. @mage discussion: FE9 gives most units quite average growth and stats, so roughly I agree that they are the same, but still have quirks. Soren vs Ilyana still goes to the former, however, Ilyanas strength advantage should be noted: 20/10 Soren: 3 Str, 24 Mag, 21 Spd 20/10 Ilyana: 9 Str, 20-21 Mag, 18 Spd Soren beats her by 3-4 Mag and 3 Spd, a clear win, right? Well, if they need to use the stronger tomes because maniac enemies have HP and Resistance, then we have Soren: 30 Atk, 19 AS with Tornado Ilyana: 30-31 Atk, 18 AS with Thoron Much closer. @siege tomes: Even Ilyana/Tormod/Callil have trouble doubling with them. They are also so rare that they are a novelity and are used very sparingly. While you can theoretically get many more than the few easily dropped, its a lot of effort and almost always not worth it. It's when you don't turtle almost every map but utilize your units to the best to beat the enemies and complete the chapters more quickly, something the game rewards you and is more than often designed to be. Which is why I also disagree with forging overly much Handaxes (though they are occasionally superior, like in chaper 13). ORKOing with Handaxes becomes impossible later on. Forged Steel and Silver Weapons are more likely to ORKO due to the focus of player phase (killing enemies, retreating to Reyson, get four mounted units danced and repeat). Clash can be blitzed within few turns, Oscar/Kieran can even ORKO Paladins with forged Silver Weapons, which they couldn't do with Handaxes etc.

Yes. Stealth is fairly easy, the linked method can be slightly iffy in the boss room, but usually should work. Chaper 12 Angel Robe still exists. Marcia likes it (and also Draco-Shields).

He's ironic. He acknowledges Oscars usefulness. He just doesn't feel like using him.

Nah, use whatever you want, I once made it with almost no mounts since every run boiled down to paladins and flyers storming with Reyson. Something like Reyson-Tormod-Calill-Nephenee-Brom-Zihark-Muarim-Lethe-Ike-Titania-Rhys It was a change of a pace to not rely on Oscar/Marcia/Kieran/Jill and a good chunk of the game was still Titania dominating everything, she compensated for her meddling stats by getting even more levels due to being more necessary, so my stance to let her remain at the top stands, even if she usually drops on a "normal" playthrough. It's not that you NEED to use Oscar, it's just that he can be 21/1 coming out of chapter 9 and you can still accumulate BEXP for Marcia/Kieran/Jill whatever. Its a clutch. Not FE8 Seth, but 16/1 Lyn Mode Sain. Don't worry about Kieran, he doesn't need Oscars avo (which isn't even that high and reliable). He has Titania bases and can ORKO soldiers from the get go. He can theoretically instanteniously promote to be your best unit, it just is never done since BEXP goes to Oscar and Marcia (or Jill I guess) first. And Kieran doesn't care about not promoting asap, he can train and contribute unpromoted on his own. Marcia support is good, he can occasionally ORKO stuff that Oscar can't, since his weapons and supports have a few points more Atk. Save the speedwing for Jill, she really needs it. Soren chips and cleans, he doesn't need to double for that. And even promoted, he mainly should build on his staff rank for physic/restore etc. Once again not something that requires speed.

If you use chapter 10 to train Oscar, he can catch up and doesn't need the BEXP. If you stealth chapter 10 (there is even a guide for it, though max bexp isn't required), then you can give Oscar the current BEXP and give Marcia the chapter 10 BEXP. Overall, Oscar can still even out his spd (especially with Knight Shield) and his Support with Ike is really good. Jill needs a speedwing and her start sucks (by comparison Marcia almost trivializes the mid-game if she gets promoted quickly), but she is worth the investement. She is no Marcia and has Res problems and it can be a hassle to get to A axes since she has lances before promotion. The main argument why some people rank her higher is that her max stats are the best (27 in Str/Spd/Def vs Marcias 23/28/24), but I find reaching those max stats impossible without rigging / its only an endgame thing. Marcias 23 Str. only falls off in endgame and she doubles almost everything. Soren not proccing spd would trigger me, but he seems decent otherwise and its not like he would stomp regularly. Still something to watch out for.

Decently leveled Ike never hurts, though he will never ORKO anything other than mages without an expensive sword forge. Still, he tends to be the only sword user for a while, so he has some niche with Regal Sword, Killing Edge, Laguz Slayer etc. Your Oscar is sad. I give him all of the bexp after chapter 7 and let him kill all southern enemies in chapter 8 (with a forged javelin). He reaches level 21 after clearing the southernwest enemies in chapter 9 and then is a better Titania. Boyd is one of the few enemies who can ORKO Wyvern Lords etc., since 30 Str. and forged Silver Axes are dope. He is optional to train and still has the issue of not having a horse, but he has his niche. Titania is still excellent, don't let some people fool you. Oscar and Kevin surpass her in Def, but she could theoretically use stat-booster to keep up and even in the endgame her averages are good enough to not be doubled, she just isn't ramming caps to do some wonders that Oscar/Kieran can barely pull off. I never cared for Soren, but he should take care of himself by chipping enemies and after promotion he can train his staff level. Even if he gets screwed, he should still be a good staff-bot. Rhys is a good staff-bot and not supposed to be anything else. His offense is almost always shitty, so everything is fine as long as he has enough magic to have some range with Physics etc. Trained Soren/Ilyana/Tormod/Mist could replace him, but the emphasis is could. And occasionally two staff users are useful. Yeah, Mia sucks. Forged swords are expensive and mandantory if you want to use her. She can chip mages, thats it. Zihark and Stefan are more reliable (and still not even that good due to sword lock). No need to employ her ever.

Tormods main issue is that he has less time to build up his staff rank (15 times Barrier and 4 times Mend at least). Soren and Ilyana can be promoted in chapter 16 or 17. They get Physics quite soon if they train their ranks in chapter 17. Tormod is unpromoted in chapter 16/17. He can catch up there level-wise, but not regarding his staff rank. He's always behind if one wants a user of Physics, Sleep and Rescue. He's too low leveled in Thunder for Bolting and Thoron, I'd level him in Wind. Using it 30 times and a weapon scroll gives him A-rank, he can ORKO Wyvern Lords in chapter 24 that way. He has good supports with Reyson and Calill, which can help. I agree that there isn't a clear best mage in the game, no one stands out and everyone offers something else. Rhys is a safe healer (his offense is sadly shitty and frustratingly almost good but ultimately a few stat points short of doubling or 2HKOing even knights and generals), Mist has canto and its funny to ORKO Wyvern Lords with the Wind Sword if one gives her spirits and weapon scrolls. Soren needs to be trained the entire game and his start is bad, but Mag/Spd is top and potential Ike support and Adept doesn't hurt. Ilyana needs a Speedwing and she can compensate for her lower Mag by using heavy thunder tomes with no penality. Calill is a good filler mage, but has no staves. Even Bastian can be useful in 26 for long range tomes or chipping a Wyvern Lord with Tornado.

Most people don't play Ironman, since it is a restrictive run that forbids extremely useful tools. Finale is easy if you have a decent Resolve/Wrath Ike to Rescue/Dance/Drop to Ashnard and kill him within 2 rounds. Sure the chances aren't 100, but reseting a few times for one long enemy phase doesn't take too long. Not that you wouldn't know that, but your assumption of ironman being a given goes against the common, sensible approaches of how to play and beat the game.

It isn't the presence of inconsistencies, but the absence of consistency that dooms a work. If a work merely has one or two outstanding features that convince and engage its consumers, it can negate multiple flaws about the work - to an extent. As rightfully criticized Chris is, his impact opened a number of benefits for the games and its successors' writing. Being a gary-sueish character universally loved and popular in-game is grating, it also enabled to give even minor characters three base conversations to flesh them out, because the game has that bland every-(wo)man available to talk to. FE1-5 pale in front of the support and base conversations that FE6-12 (minus 10 and 11) developed. While the gaiden chapters that center around him and Katarina are irrelevant plotwise, they add personal low-stakes. They are both story and gameplay-wise a change from the huge war battles and seizes, being small, claustrophobic maps. To lead back at FE7, the FE12 tutorial is reminiscent of that game's step-up from past FEs, focusing on a smaller cast. FE7 Lyn mode is still the best, most effective tutorial in the franchise. Lyns' rise is a microcosm of the usual Lord's story, the focus of a few members to flesh out their personalities to enhance the dramatic and personal journey is as effective as it could be if cramped in 12 short chapters. Gameplay-wise, the mechanics are explained down to the smallest detail, the foolish Sain actively demonstrating what happens if a lance user attacks an axe user in a forest beats every dry game manual. Your observation of gameplay and story combination rather than segregation throughout the franchise's development and success/failure is spot on. This is a key for video games to immerse the player in the world, rather than estrange them and make them lose their interest. As well as the deduction, how humans, players aren't entirely logically, as much as we like to, but very vulnerable to emotional pay-offs. FE7 delivered them much more so than the rather subdued ones in FE6. Hectors' death was always bland, while FE7 lets us know who he was and gives his departure with the knowledge that he will die a somber note. Nino/Jaffars side story may be cliched, overblown and cheesy, her empathy with Zephiels misery is much more engaging and relatable than the entirety of FE6s spoonfeeding Zephiels backstory through Guinevere that fails to convince the player to feel sympathy or even understanding for this madman. Her simple act to spare a boys life leading to a near worldending desaster is more personal and nuanced than FE6 Zephiels ramblings of how some war dragons make better rulers than humans because his father was allegedly a dick (while FE7 showed it, rather than merely told it). Eery, how FE7 improved FE6, while simultaneously struggling to distance itself from it.

Lyon is one of the better villains, which isnt saying much, considering how low the standard is in the franchise. Sprinkling his backstory out throughout the game was an effective narrative choice to have him be consistently present. Locking some content behind Knolls support is also an unconventional method and reward for players who bother to dig deeper. FE7 was even doper with this with Kishunas gaiden chapters (though without a guide the unlock mechanics were shit,, what legend unlocked 19xx without a guide or any hint?). Biggest problem why he isn't the best villain in the franchise was highlighted in your essay: He doesn't develop throughout the game from good to questionable to corrupted to torn to evil, he merely does every one of those tantalizing steps in the backstory. In the prologue he is already fully possessed and Lyon is already as hopelessly lost as he is in the final chapter. Having him being good first, then questionable and corrupted in the early-mid game just for him to fall only at the endgame would make the story significantly dramatic, his fall would have an impact, since he was shown and known as good ingame. Lyon would be an antagonist mirroring the lords and growing along them throughout the game, failing whenever they succeeed and vice versa. Which tends to be better than a stale villain who doesn't change at all.

Improving ones unit relationship through jealousy is a game mechanic so intricated and morally dubious that it's too good to be implemented on purpose. Even in the current series in which we get the occasional Yandere and Tsundere for some less orhodox takes on relationships, I'm confident that IS will never implement them on a sufficient complex level and resort to bland, clean outcomes which development everyone can see from a mile away. FE4 was the closest and even that is now implied to be accidental.

You overlook how the events in both routes influence each other. In chapter 10, Valter would've beaten/weakened Ephraim, but retreated to deal with Eirika in Carcino: If Eirika wasn't around, then Valters and Glen troops would be available to confront Ephraim. Add this with Duessel, Selena and later Caellach, and Ephraim wouldn't get as far as he would. In Chapter 13, Caellach would've beaten/weakened Ephraims troops but retreated to deal with Eirika in Jehanna: If Grado didn't had to deal with Jehanna, it would had Caellach and his troops to confront Ephraim. You are ignoring the units that Caellach sacrifieced to deal with Eirika and Rausten, you are ignoring the treacherous troops in Jehanna that joined Grado. You ignore Pablos squad. All of them were defeated by Eirikas troops. Ephraim wouldn't conquer Grado if he would face Vigarde, Lyon, Valter, Caellach and Riev at once. Grado didn't fail because Ephraim is that greater than Eirika, but because it spread outs its troops on purpose, since the leaders Demon King/Lyon/Riev/controlled Vigarde only care about getting the stones (and Valter sabotages his own army for funsies). For that they invade in the other nations as far as necessary, but retreat as soon as they got the stones and set themself up to lose in the long term (fully awakened Demon King doesn't care if Grado is still winning or not).

Ephraim could only conquer Grado because the nation spread its troops to deal with Frelia/Rausten/Jehanna at the other side of the front. Eirika was a necessary distraction at the other side of the front. Sure, Eirika didn't got the glory, but her contributions were necessary.

#30 Colm Ten characters are already removed and few characters with many negative points remain. Colm is another cheeky and impudent character that likes to tease others, but unlike Ewan, his behavior has a reasonable background. Orphaned by the war, his village was burned down and he has to survive and care for himself and Neimi. It is understandable why one would resorts to thievery to survive. Colm has a slight antagonistic role in chapter 2-3, stealing the precious bracelet of Eirika and thus setting events in motion for the detour to the bandit hideout. Thievery is a lesser crime and merely the first step of the criminal path. It may start with stealing belongings that the victims may not need, like Eirikas bracelet. But to survive, food and important goods have to be stolen. It will be more profitable to be more reckless with it by hurting others during plundering. If the robbed victims fight back, hurting and killing them may also occur. Many criminals start with simpler crimes like thievery and it can escalate quickly. Colm may truly become a murdering bandit like the ones in chapter 2-3, if he stayed on that path, even if he had understandable reasons first. But due to the efforts of his close friend Neimi, he is saved by her and Seth chastises him. By the end of the chapter, Colm joins them with the motivation to change his ways. He sort of has fulfilled his role and character arc already. For the rest of the game, he stays as the slightly dubious, but overall well meaning thief that tries to help. He still strays from the path of righteousness, as shown in his supports with Moulder. He's making fun of him and his teachings and is only partly taking his redemption seriously. Colm is someone that won't be convinced by nice words and good faith like Moulder and Neimi try to, he listens far more to strict authority. He shows much more respect for Seth and Kyle. With the latter, he is quite eager to learn from him and to please him. Since he is scared of the silent, serious Marisa, he isn't making fun of her either, though the support is mostly about her. The support between Colm and Rennac is a typical thief vs thief support, with them trying to outperform each other. The support also shows their contrasting backgrounds. Rennac comes from a wealthy merchant family, Colm is a country bumpkin with no connections. His romance with his childhood friend isn’t exactly optional, even in other supports and her epilogue it implies that Neimi ends up with him, They don’t have any other romantic choices (unlike the following recruitable pairs Lute/Artur and Joshua/Natasha) and the C support is even forced in Easy mode. While the romance can be depicted as a sweet childhood romance, it isn’t well executed. Colm is rather mean and constantly belittling and insulting her. I get that „I’m the only one allowed to make you cry“ is meant to be adorable and wholesome, laying the rose tinted glasses off implicates a unhealthy relationship that isn't too far from abusiveness. Conclusion Colm has his charms and a decent first appearance with a serviceable conflict and character arc. But there isn’t too much to his character and he isn’t contributing too much in supports, at times he is even a nuisance for the other characters. Current Tier List This leaves Franz, Vanessa, Marisa, Saleh, Rennac and Selena for the next character to be cut. Which one will be next? And which two characters survive this round? And was Colm rated fairly? Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.

#31 Moulder Moulder joins in chapter 2 as a priest who served Frelia for decades. He has a fountain of live experience and is always available to give his younger comrades advice. Aside from some polite words before and at the beginning of chapter 2, he doesn’t have any more scenes, not even recruit scenes with Tana, Innes and Syrene. The Priest/Wrys archetype is fairly high represented in the series, though younger cute clerics/Lena's replace them occasionally. Religion is always present to some extent in the mythical settings, always linked with (light and staff) magic. Some characters manage to use their faith to establish their personalities and motivations. When confronted with less faithful, controversial and educational conversations can follow to flesh out each characters world view. FE6 Saul in particular is a priest whose gimmick clashes with his profession, though he manages to make it part of his social gatherings. He discusses gods potential vindication with the incredulous Igrene, his master Yodel discusses multiple religions with Dayan, a follower of a different religion. Moulder... doesn't do any of this. He seems to be faithful and the other characters in this setting also seem to , but the religion in Magvell isn't fleshed out at all, we don' know anything about the gods that are mentioned by people here and there. Do they have a connection with the dragons and the demons? How exactly did they bless the five legendary warriors with the sacred stones and sacred weapons, in particular Saint Latona and his light tome and staff? Religion in FE8 is something vague and may or may not resemble our religions. And whether the writers or translators wanted to elaborate on religious topics or purposely left them vague, in the end, L'Arachel, Natasha and Moulder are supposed to be followers of faith, but their faith isn't build upon an elaborated background and they rarely talk about religious controversies like theodicy or polytheism. As for his supports, I already mentioned two of Moulders four supports. There is the infamous bad, superfluous support with Gilliam in which they talk about almost nothing. And the one with Syrene, where their consider themselves the more experienced persons in the army and talk about that exciting topic. With Vanessa, Moudler gives the young knight advice in in all matters, especially love. It is a one-sided advice, Vanessa doesn't ask Moulder anything about his problems (at least Syrene did that). The B Support is especially outstanding, as it isn’t even about them and instead of Innes. Moulder's remark that Vanessa reminds him of himself could open some speculations. Was he also in love but was it one sided or did he chose to be celibate? The support with Colm is also mostly about him. Moulder chastises him for his antics. It is a repetition of Colms character scenes in chapter 3, in which he considered leaving his criminal ways. Now, it is Moulder instead of Seth who berates him. Conclusion Yeah, I got nothing. Whenever people talk about Moulder, they don’t address anything of his character or his motivations and desires, mostly because he doesn’t have any. Instead, they focus on the Moulder The Boulder meme and how he has allegedly so much more HP and Def than the other mages. Or that the root of his strength lies in his mustache. I like older characters if they have an agency. Like Boran politically making the miscalculation of marrying Nyna with Hardin and dying for it. Or Wendel worrying about the rivalry of his two pupils and him taking Elrean back to the light. Moulder doesn't expands on his faith or his wisdom. He wasn't cut the first round and almost survived this round. I suspected that the other rankers didn't want to cut him, just because it is so boring to write about him. I had to convince the last player to cut Moulder at the end of this round, he shouldn't stay any longer. Current Tier List Round 3 Player 4 (that was me) nominated Marisa and Vanessa Player 3 nominated Selena and Duessel Player 5 nominated Saleh and Seth Player 1 nominated Colm and Rennac Player 2 nominated Lute and Franz The popularity poll for this round: Seth 14 votes Duessel 10 Lute 6 Marisa 5 Selena 5 Vanessa 4 Colm 4 Franz 3 Saleh 3 Rennac 3 Seth, Duessel and Lute were saved and won't be cut this round. 7 characters are left and 5 of them will be cut this round: Franz, Vanessa, Colm, Marisa, Saleh, Rennac and Selena. 2 Characters will survive this round as well, but who will it be? And who is going to be the first to be cut next time? And was Moulder's placement fair or should he have been cut one round earlier or even later? Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.

I kept that in mind and elaborated a bit on the issue of humor. I don't mind funny characters, but they really need something additional beyond just being silly. #32 Dozla Dozla is the subordinate of Princess L’Arachel and always accompanying her whenever she appears prior their recruitment. This is in chapter 4 and 9 or 10. In contrast to Rennac, Dozla is loyal to L’Arachel and worships her and never questions her decisions. Why the Berserker has such a loyalty for L’Arachel isn’t explained. Their support is solely about self centered princess and them planning to further put her at the center by giving her a fancier title and similar nonsense. It solidifies his role as a subordinate who doesn’t have an agency on his own and just serves someone else. While this makes him stand out compared to Gilliam (who doesn’t have a personal relationship to Tana or Innes or Hayden or… pretty to much anyone), nothing about his loyalty is explained. Why is he treating L’Arachel almost like a daughter? Was he already a loyal knight to her parents and does he consider it his duty to keep serving them through her? Did he had a family and lost it and is now using L’Arachel as some sort of a daughter replacement? There is some potential for his over-protectiveness, as his loyalty for her is quite extreme. In their ending he ends up crying like a baby at her wedding, it is the fulfillment of his dream he also shared with his next support partner, Rennac. The support with Rennac shows the juxtaposition between the willingly, loyal, joyous and content Dozla and the unwillingly, not loyal, bitter and frustrated Rennac. Rennac uses dry, sarcastic remarks, Dozla dismisses every concern with a hearty laugh. In the A Support Dozla asks Rennac to keep watching over L’Arachel should he die, so even that level of trust Dozla is willing to share with Rennac is still about her and only partly about Dozla himself. Like in his support with L’Arachel it can be considered a touching moment, but there is still nothing based on his devotion for her that could be explored beyond his observation that she is charismatic. The support with Garcia was censored afaik. In the japanese version they drank alcohol, in the other versions they goof around and hurt each other trying to use magic and bows (excuse me, warrior Garcia can use bows!), it is a fairly silly support about two old men being grumpy about the young ones. In the support with Ewan, Dozla is again taking a fatherly role just like he did with L’Arachel, but he can't contribute to Ewans curiosity and creativity beyond being simple being impressed. Just like Rennac, Dozlas interaction with Myrrh are unintentionally hilarious on his part, as she feels mistreated. Still, at the end approves of his honesty and simple nature. Dozla also can’t stop being a simpleminded for L’Arachel, though his remark that Myrrh must be in love with L’Arachel misses the mark, as Myrrh does worry about love, it's just with Ephraim instead and she is jealous of L'Arachel. Overall, Dozla is underdeveloped with no backstory explaining why he is a joyous L‘Arachel follower. He confronts all of his support partners with hit dumbness and silliness, who either go along with it like L’Arachel and Garcia, or have trouble with it like Rennac and Myrrh. Also, he has a unique design, being a small but boisterous man with a glorious beard, enhancing his joyous nature. It resembles dwarfs and I quickly compare him to Gimli of LotR, who is also serving as comic relief for most parts (but Gimli actually has his share of grim and somber moments, particular in Moria). It seems to be just an unique character design, no one comments how weird Dozla looks. And this would almost be the end of this cut, but I elaborate a bit further on his gimmick of being a goofy comic relief and whether this improves or worsens his character. Humor is different to rate and even more subjective than this character rating already is. Some may crack up at Dozlas jokes and consider him the best character in the franchise. Some considers his joke distasteful in light of the plot and tone of sacred stones. War and monsters engulf the continent, the countries try to fight, prevent and stop the death of their citizens. And yet, L’Arachel and their merry gang is lollygagging around the continent and while they are also contributing in a positive manner, they treat the threat as some game, the whole affair is deemed as some magical girl episode with some evil cartoon villains to slay. Whether their role is appropriate and enhancing or damaging the plot is one matter, the next one is the form of humor and if Dozla is convincingly funny. This has issues on its own, as talking about jokes and explaining them is often missing the point. Humor is something unexplained, usually the creator and recipient of the joke are aware why it is funny. Linguist can even go deeper in this complex matter, I just wanted to address why I’m not starting quoting everyone of Dozla's joke and discuss whether their are funny or not. I'm restricting myself at two points, why I think that they aren't funny and contributing to his character. A character making many jokes and exploring their funny sidet on its own is okay, if not positive characterization. Every character has some sort of wit and can express it. Even strict or melancholic characters can have their moments and it may enhance them. The issue only appears if jokes are the only thing the character has. If a character has nothing to contribute but being funny, it is unnatural and forced. An extreme example is Oliver in FE10. He is effectively there because he is a popular character and a meme. The characters have no reason to accept a corrupt criminal and murderous slave trader in their ranks. The finale of the game is all about the mad, stubborn, broken antagonists that threaten to destroy or reshape the world. And yet, Oliver can even interact with them and everyone just shrugs at him and accepts that he is around. As I said, the game also never told us what Dozla drives and motivates beyond his fanatic loyalty to L'Arachel, which makes him shallow. Humor differs in quality. This goes in the subjective area I addressed earlier. Dozlas humor is silly, plump and obvious, which is why I'm not laughing much about it. It tries too hard to be funny and lacks wit. By comparison, Rennac has dry, sarcastic remarks, lamenting his poor fate that often he has brought upon himself. Those jokes tend to be better, because they address real issues and partly make one sympathize with him and partly pity him. Dozla's jokes on their own don't deliver anything subtle that explore his character. At best, other characters like Rennac and Myrrh bring out some of his strengths and worries out of him, when they react to his foolish behavior. Conclusion Dozla hardly has an own character and is more like and extension of L’Arachels ego. His own backstory and character isn't explored and for a character that is all about being funny...he isn't that great. He isn’t totally boring and made me chuckle once or twice, so at least no one chose to cut him in the first round (40-36). But I nominated him for this round and was pleased that one of the other players I did the rankdown with removed him. Current Tier List This leaves Moulder, Garcia and Marisa for the next character to be cut. Which one will be next? And which two characters survive this round? And is Dozla funny or not? And how relevant is it for rating his character? Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.

It isn't the hardest difficulty, but it's not easy either. Around FE6 HM, FE11 H5, FE12 H2 and Conquest HM. Early game is difficult, because all units except Titania are weak and frail. The quicker you can train your units to reach certain stats to be able to ORKO and take some hits, the easier the game gets. The Midgame should go fairly smooth then. The endgame throws some nasty stuff like long range magic and status staves at you, the better your team is optimized the easier it is. Forging is essential, almost every chapter a weapon should be bought to ORKO stuff. Reyson and mounted units with axes and lances are still recommended to clear the enemies in the player phase, infantry units have trouble keeping up (except a good Boyd).

#33 Ross Ross character and motivation is appropriately shown in his joining chapter. Afterwards, he fades in the background like most characters. Chapter 2 shows how the war isn't only affecting the nobles, the common folk is also suffering under it. Ross and his father are in danger. The knights can’t protect the country anymore, bandits loot and use the opportunity to attack their village. Garcia's past a a warrior catches up to him and once again he is forced to leave his live of peace behind to take on arms. He is forced to do what he can do best and may be destined for. Was it unavoidable, his true nature? Ross doesn’t have this dilemma, he is at the beginning of his life and hasn't decided on his path. He knows peace, but now he wants to be a great warrior, just like his father. It sounds pretty and is even more understandable for gameplay related reasons, as he needs much more experience than the other units and has a few more options to grow and promote. But plot wise I’m not entirely convinced why he wants to go on a journey and travel the world. Was his peaceful live in a the village boring? Why isn’t he taking the same path as is father and becomes a knight? Doesn’t he want to imitate him? Inheriting and solving the parents grief and regrets is important for some key characters of FE8, especially the royal heirs Lyon, Joshua and the siblings of Renais and Frelia. But unlike them, Ross doesn’t have a pressing need to follow his father. Character wise, Ross is inexperienced and is immediately contrasted with the experienced Garcia. Ross freaks out when they are confronted with the bandits and panics when saved by Vanessa who tries to rescue him. Garcia keeps his cool and puts his faith in the pegasus knight. Ross is typical hot headed and a bit of a simpleton. Though he never goes in the stereotype of the dumb muscle, which happens to quite a few axe fighters in the series. Much of his naivety has to do with his age, he is the typical annoying child soldier who shouldn’t really accompany them. His supports can be sorted in two groups. In one group he interacts with characters roughly his age and in the ones with Garcia and Gerik he learns from the veterans, who teach him. Lute and Ewan mostly make fun for him being a simpleton, who can’t catch up with their intellectual and rhetoric musings. Ross isn’t really dumb, he is more likely to have street smarts. At least Ross can build a slight friendship with those two bearing, ungrateful and pedantic persons, Ross is the sympathetic one by comparison. With Amelia it is a honest, warm, plausible friendship between the two scrubs, though Ross boasting to be the bigger brother and becoming embarrassed when Amelia is teasing him is too silly and anime-like for me. The support with Gerik is informative, they play the part of wise mentor and eager student well. The one with Garcia has heart, but is fairly predictable and self explaining. Both supports lack tension. There is no scolding and arguing, no clash of different views and possible conflicts between mentor and student or father and son. Instead, Ross is polite and compliant, if a bit overeager. Conclusion Ross isn’t as annoying and boring as prior characters, but beyond his vague „I want to travel the world to become a great warrior like my father“ he has nothing else to offer and he doesn't grow and change. Neither the plot nor the supports question, enhance and develop his character. Which is a bit ironic, considering that his class is all about development and improvement. But the 10/20/20 Ross in the epilogue behaves just as eager, naive and inexperienced as the level 1 scrub in the beginning. Current Tier List This leaves Moulder, Garcia, Marisa and Dozla for the next two characters to be cut. Which one will be next? And which two characters survive this round? And was Ross placed fairly? Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.

C-Support: "Knoll: There are as many truths out there as there are people to tell them. Perhaps it’s best simply to choose the truth with which you are most comfortable. Natasha: ……" Natasha: You’re wrong… My mentor wasn’t like that at all! And isn’t this war the direct result of all your dark magic research? Knoll: …… Natasha: …… A Support Knoll: …Within five years, half of Grado will be destroyed. Natasha: Destroyed? Knoll: In the southern half of the continent, there will be a terrible quake. The ground will shake violently. The earth will crack open wide. Cities will fall. Fields will burn in the earth’s hot blood. Few will survive. This is what we have foreseen. Natasha: How– How can this– Perhaps you might allow me to join you when the time comes… Natasha: Master Knoll? Not that I complain about the support itself, it is my favorite one, but Natasha mostly takes the less interesting role of interviewing Knoll and pressing him. He has all the cards and is the interesting part in this. Correct, almost none of the supports are about her, they are usually about the men and their issues. They can use a flat character like Natasha who occasionally asks the right questions and makes the right deductions... about them. The support with Franz is exclusively about his issues. Natasha is so selfless and caring, that she never forces herself in the center to show some agency. Her support partners open herself up to her, while she is all to willing to talk about them rather than her. Like with Ewan, this behavior may be realistic and understandable for their characters, but it isn't pleasant to read. And being annoying/flat on purpose is still annoying/flat. The way she treats him compared with Seth and Joshua is patronizing. Franz is happy about it, talking about his fears and weaknesses. He gives her his mothers comb and talks about both of them. Interesting to read about Natasha in a positively light, I found her to be one of the blandest females in FE8. At least she had enough stuff to not be cut in the first round (40-36), she isn't that terrible.

Probably, but whether she's a Gotoh or a Midia/high-ranking mid game general arcetype, she is a disappointing, not fleshed out example for both archetypes. Yeah, Moulder's end draws near. Frelian's are really boring, their country doesn't even have a nice thematic background. At least there is still their royalty. Only one of Dozla and Garcia will survive. Realistically/purposely being annoying is still annoying. But reddit voted the Ewan post down, so he has some fans. It boils down to annoying vs boring. Syrene also hypes Innes in their recruit conversation. I disagree with Kyle being an interesting cavalier. That would be Forde. #34 Natasha Natasha is introduced in chapter 5 and as the first unit of the enemy country to join Eirika, she is quite symbolic for the thematic background this chapter provides. It plays in the city of Serafew which shows the current distorted relationship between Grado and Renais. Eirika remembers the past and her friend Lyon, who is assumed to be her enemy now. While Grado is currently evil, not all Grado people are or were so. Natasha is one of the first examples. She is clearly of good intent and her circumstances of being hunted down by her own people is another display of the current corruption and madness that reigns her country. Religion always leaves the intriguing question open if it’s about the message or the medium/messenger. In her backstory she tells how her mentor father MacGregor was watching the events of Grado, the countries decline and the mad acts of Vigarde and Lyon. He spoke against his emperor and prince and died for it. To be frank, him taking a stand and finding out their heretic acts is much more intriguing and would be much more exciting to see than the brief summary that Natasha provides. Her only purpose is to deliver his vague message: Vigarde is mad and tries to destroy the other Sacred Stones, an act that is somehow bad. She doesn’t know anything about it, it is poor determination and faith that lets her risk her live. This is a huge contrast to the scholar Knoll, who knows about the experiments and when they lead to Grados ruin. But he is actually unable to act. He has the knowledge, but lacks the spirit to do anything but lament. Natasha has the spirit…but simply doesn’t have any knowledge what' the danger is actually about. In the end, this is fairly vague foreshadowing and mostly for the players benefit. Eirika doesn’t really act on it and the Sacred Stones of Frelia and Jehanna get destroyed soon afterwards. Only until Ephram meets Knoll, who actually witnessed the events and provides some sort of insight in Lyon and the Demon King schemes, do they keep an effort to protect the stones of Renais and Rausten. Natasha's contributions were well meaning, but useless. What's even more cynical about her existence is, that she may as well die in chapter 5 and her role doesn’t change one bit. There is an optional dialogue if she is slain there. She does deliver the words with her last breath at the end of the chapter then. If she lives, she is just accompanying them and doesn’t do anything anyways. Still, her character can be explored in supports with five different characters. Joshua This is one of the better known supports, mostly because of the quite famous recruitment scene that serves as the introduction to their growing relationship and romance. Joshua is the first enemy unit, though he is just a mercenary on payroll rather than a psychotic murder machine like Navarre and Rutger. His mindset for letting himself recruited by the flip of the coin that he may have rigged (or not) is a remarkable introduction of his nonchalant character, though Natasha has to endure his antics as a passive bystander and gets spared because she got lucky or because Joshua is "noble". This relationship continues to grow in the supports the same way. He plays and teases her and she obediently endures it. In the end, he is rewarded for his tenacity and Natasha falls in love with him, because he is a good person deep down (whether he actually is shall be discussed in his cut) . Seth She has more pleasant conversations with him. They are both complimenting each other through the supports and in the end Seth confesses his love to her. She is as eager to accept to the chivalrous Seth as she did with he sly Joshua. There isn't a distinction or clarification, why she falls in love with either off them. Franz He is deemed too young to be a potential partner, so instead he is allowed to be mothered her. Cormag Surprisingly enough, they only start at the B support talking about their troubles of fighting their home country. The C support spends time with an injured animal, because it has to be shown that Cormag is really kind, I guess. Knoll It is my favorite support in the game, but not because of Natasha, who mostly reacts to Knolls fountain of information. She is repeating words to ask him to be more specific or interrupts his dialogues with “…”. Natasha serves as a self-insert of the player towards the new information he offers and she is as helpless as we are, when Knoll confronts her with the destruction of Grado he foresaw and how or if there is anything to do about it. Natasha's kind, meek demeanor with all of her support partners makes her rather passive. Usually she merely reacts, agrees and is letting them take the lead. She doesn’t questions her convictions and stays as the gentle selfless healer without having any agency (beyond what she did in her recruitment). Conclusion All of the Grado units in the party have some neat internal struggle going on and Natasha has a fairly memorable introduction going for her: She is being hunted down by her own people and her recruitment with Joshua is quite iconic. But beyond that, most of her background of serving Grado is unused potential. Natasha doesn’t really have any agency after she delayed her message. In the supports, she is compliant to a fault (except with Knoll). At least she is an improvement over FE6 Ellen, who is also a cleric of the enemy nation (though it only matters in her support with Chad). Current Tier List This leaves Moulder, Ross, Garcia, Marisa and Dozla for the next three characters to be cut. Which one will be next? And which two characters survive this round? And was Natasha placed fairly? Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.